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Icebreaker: a Lunar South Pole Exploring Robot Cmu-Ri-Tr-97-22

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Icebreaker: a Lunar South Pole Exploring Robot Cmu-Ri-Tr-97-22 ICEBREAKER: A LUNAR SOUTH POLE EXPLORING ROBOT CMU-RI-TR-97-22 Matthew C. Deans Alex D. Foessel Gregory A. Fries Diana LaBelle N. Keith Lay Stewart Moorehead Ben Shamah Kimberly J. Shillcutt Professor: Dr. William Whittaker The Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh PA 15213 Spring 1996-97 Executive Summary Icebreaker: A Lunar South Pole Exploring Robot Due to the low angles of sunlight at the lunar poles, craters and other depressions in the polar regions can contain areas which are in permanent darkness and are at cryogenic temperatures. Many scientists have theorized that these cold traps could contain large quantities of frozen volatiles such as water and carbon dioxide which have been deposited over billions of years by comets, meteors and solar wind. Recent bistatic radar data from the Clementine mission has yielded results consistent with water ice at the South Pole of the Moon however Earth based observations from the Arecibo Radar Observatory indicate that ice may not exist. Due to the controversy surrounding orbital and Earth based observations, the only way to definitively answer the question of whether ice exists on the Lunar South Pole is in situ analysis. The discovery of water ice and other volatiles on the Moon has many important benefits. First, this would provide a source of rocket fuel which could be used to power rockets to Earth, Mars or beyond, avoiding the high cost of Earth based launches. Secondly, water and carbon dioxide along with nitrogen from ammonia form the essential elements for life and could be used to help support human colonies on the Moon. Thirdly, since these volatiles have been accumulating for billions of years they can provide valu- able information about the history of the Moon and cometary impacts. The discovery of volatiles on the Moon would radically change our outlook on the solar system and our ability to explore it. A surface mission is the only way in which volatile deposits and their composition can be verified. Such a mission would have to survive the Lunar South Pole environment which is significantly different than at the equator. A robot would have to be able to operate in cryogenic temperatures and complete darkness while in the cold traps. However the surface temperature in the sun is quite mild compared to the baking heat of the equatorial regions. Communications with Earth are only possible for two weeks in a month, furthermore the Earth’s low elevation allows communications to be obstructed by lunar terrain. The Sun is also very low on the horizon (which causes long shadows). While this low Sun angle creates the cold traps, it also allows for regions with almost permanent light - ideal for charging batteries and travel between cold traps. Further, with the Sun on the horizon, the shaded side of the robot as well as its top offer excellent surfaces for radiation of excess heat since they point to the black of space. Also solar pan- els do not have to track the Sun as it moves across the sky since it is always on the horizon. In general the pole is an environment which is more favorable to robots than other regions of the Moon. Icebreaker is a robot design capable of finding ice at the Lunar South Pole. The goals of its mission are to confirm the presence of ice and map its local distribution, determine composition of the ice, determine the existence and nature of stratigraphy and finally to measure the composition of ice to a depth of one meter below the surface. To do this Icebreaker will visit at least two cold traps and take ten samples from each during a two week period during which communications with Earth are present. An artists conception of Icebreaker is shown above. It is a four wheeled, all wheel drive robot with drive motors mounted inside the wheels. The front wheels of Icebreaker are Ackerman steered and the rear wheels are connected to the chassis through a bogie mechanism. Dust, kicked up by the wheels, is pre- vented from collecting on the solar panels and optics by fenders. Due to mass and volume constraints in the Delta II 7925H rocket fairing, Icebreaker will be a combined lander/rover vehicle. This class of vehicles combines the functions of a traditional landing craft and rover into one vehicle. Thruster and fuel tanks are an integral part of Icebreaker and allow it to touchdown on its wheels with very little energy and no disposable shock absorbing structure. Thus Icebreaker will land on the Moon and then drive off in its quest for volatiles. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a pair of star tracker cameras are used to fix the position of Ice- breaker on the surface of the Moon, as well as during the flight through space. Radar altimeter and belly camera are used to control the landing. A panospheric camera, mounted on top of the solar panel is used to detect the horizon, as well as to return images to Earth. A pair of forward looking, horizontal baseline ste- reo cameras return stereo images to a human teleoperator. Strobe lights will be used when ambient light is insufficient for the cameras. A radar sensor is used to detect obstacles and permit the robot to travel auton- omously. To meet the mission goals of determining the composition of volatiles and determining stratigraphy, Ice- breaker has a set of scientific instruments. An infrared camera, tuned to water ice, will be used to locate possible deposits of volatiles. After the robot closes on a potential deposit, a cryogenic sampling drill is used to collect a sample. This drill is capable of collecting samples up to a depth of 1m. The drill will then deposit the sample into a Regolith Evolved Gas Analyzer (REGA). The REGA will heat the sample, and using a mass spectrometer, determine the chemical and isotopic composition of the sample. Stratigraphy will be determined by taking and analyzing samples from various known depths. Icebreaker will return scientific data and images to the Earth over a 10kbps, S-Band radio link. A switched array of limited aperture, high gain antennas, mounted on top of Icebreaker will be used to send and receive data to Earth through NASA’s Deep Space Network. As a backup, a small omnidirectional low gain antenna is also included. While Icebreaker does not have to deal with the extreme heat encountered at the equatorial regions of the Moon, the cryogenic temperatures inside the cold traps make heating an important issue. The main body of Icebreaker will be temperature controlled to preserve the computers, scientific instruments and batter- ies. This will be done through a series of heat pipes and insulation. Small quantities of RHU’s will also be used to generate heat, particularly in isolated regions such as the video cameras. Power will be generated using solar panels. A solar panel fin is mounted from bow to stern of Icebreaker. This fin is fixed and thus cannot be pointed towards the Sun. Batteries will be used to store electricity, both for journeys into cold traps and for driving when the Sun is not illuminating Icebreaker’s solar panels. The possibility of finding ice deposits within regions of permanent dark adjacent to regions of permanent light makes the Lunar South Pole so valuable to humanity that it warrants a mission of exploration. Ice- breaker provides a viable design to successfully complete such a mission. The design rests on the firm foundations of previous NASA research programs. It also makes contributions to advance the current state of the art. The combined lander/rover concept allows current rockets to deliver large scientific payloads to the planets. The use of radar for terrain mapping provides immunity to dust and lighting conditions which could make it the next standard in sensing technology for planetary rovers. i Table of Contents Chapter: 1 Introduction ................................................................................1 1.1 Motivation........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Objectives ........................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Mission Objectives .......................................................................................... 2 Chapter: 2 Lunar South Pole Environment ...................................................3 2.1 Sun and Earth Visibility................................................................................... 3 2.2 Terrain.............................................................................................................. 4 2.3 Temperature..................................................................................................... 5 2.4 Atmosphere...................................................................................................... 5 Chapter: 3 Mission Overview .......................................................................7 3.1 Design Overview ............................................................................................. 7 3.2 Landing Site..................................................................................................... 9 Chapter: 4 Mission Operations .....................................................................11 4.1 Initial Test Mode/Shakedown.......................................................................... 11 4.2 Driving............................................................................................................. 12 4.3 Drilling/Scientific Analysis ............................................................................. 13 4.4 Charging
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